1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for increasing oil and gas recovery, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a use of an oil and gas flow enhancing substance and plunger used to deliver the substance into the bottom of the well.
2. Related Art
In the recovery of oil from oil-bearing reservoirs, it is often possible to recover only a portion of the oil contained in the underground formation by the so-called primary recovery methods which utilize the natural forces present in the reservoir. Thus, a variety of enhanced recovery techniques, so-called secondary or tertiary recovery have been employed in order to increase the recovery of oil from subterranean reservoirs.
Chemical activated oil and gas flow enhancing liquids and sticks, such as soaps, are commonly known to reduce scale, paraffin and the viscosity of the fluids in the well and thus increase production of oil and gas recovery. Enhanced recovery techniques presently use a pump truck to pump a slurry mix either “in liquid form” of soap into the oil well either at the well head or through a special inner tubing which extends to the bottom of the hole or “in solid form” by dropping a soap stick into the well tubing.
These techniques have proved somewhat effective in enhancing oil recovery, but each has drawbacks. The liquid soaps require the use of additional equipment such as pump trucks to effectuate delivery of the soaps as well as building inner tubing to deliver the soap where the soap is most needed, i.e., at the bottom of the well. Delivery using such methods is not economical or practical due to continuous manual intervention, additional equipment and costs associated therewith.
Soap sticks are commonly used, but lack effectiveness as the soap sticks dissolve either too slowly upon reaching the well bottom or too quickly prior to reaching the well bottom. The length of time it takes for the stick to reach the bottom of the well depends upon well depth, viscosity of fluid, and the reactivity of the chemical stick to fluid environments as well as internal chemical release and aerodynamics of the stick shape. Due to the chemical nature of these chemical activated oil and gas flow enhancing sticks, they have a relatively limited mass or density advantage in the mass and density compared to the fluids in which they are placed and thus are limited in the rate in which they fall to the bottom of the well. In other words, by adding compositions to the sticks to increase their mass and density to decrease their time of decent, the reactivity of the stick is negatively impacted. One attempt to solve the problem employs the use of a plunger having a soap stick attached thereto. While this has provided an improvement, there remains a need for a more economical and effective method of enhancing oil recovery.